Pat Cummins’ Australian team will take on India in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2023. The WTC 2023 Final between Team India and Australia will be played from June 7 at The Oval in London.
After missing out from the inagural WTC final in 2021, which New Zealand won by defeating India in the final, Australia, under new skipper Pat Cummins, lost only 1 series in thie cycle – to India in India and topped the WTC 2023 points table. India, who also lost only 1 series in this cycle, to South Africa in South Africa, finished second courtesy of their 2-1 win over Australia at home.
Both the teams have some of all-time great players in both batting and bowling departments. So this WTC 2023 final presents a legacy-cementing opportunity for these players.
Speaking of Australia, the selectors have put faith in David Warner, who has had a tough time in Test cricket over the past couple of years, for this ultimate game. If Warner fails to perform in the WTC final, he could be dropped from the following Ashes against England.
The other 3 batters in the top 4 – Khawaja, Labuschagne, and Steve Smith – all are in good form in Test cricket and will also be coming off a big rest while Warner is participating in the IPL along with most of the Indian players selected in the WTC final squad.
Travis Head was dropped at the start of the India series but regained his position in the line-up and played some attacking cricket.
Cameron Green, who hit a century in Ahmedabad, is the all-rounder in the side, a key component of the Australian team as he will be required to bowl to provide rest to the other three main seamers – Starc, Cummins, and Hazlewood, all three of which had a fruitful Ashes series in 2019 in England. Hazlewood is currently recovering from a heel injury and recently played his first IPL 2023 match for RCB. Nathan Lyon, the off-spinner, will eye a piece of history in the WTC final when he comes up against India, and also perhaps the final bragging rights against Pujara.
Talking about that epic 2019 Ashes series, Steve Smith would love playing in English conditios again – he amassed 774 runs in only 7 innings in that series and would be the toughest nut to crack for the Indian bowlers while Cummins was the top wicket taker in that series with 29 scalps. Not to forget, it was that series when Labuschagne’s career changed as he cracked 4 fifties in 4 matches under difficult conditions and against tough bowling.
The extras in the squad are Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Harris, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Scott Boland.
Australia’s predicted XI for WTC Final 2023 vs India:
Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Here is India’s squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat
Australia’s squad for WTC final 2023:Pat Cummins (Captain), Steve Smith (VC), David Warner, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Harris, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Mitchell Marsh, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, and Todd Murphy
